Stan Wang on Crusaders of Light's Future & Moving to Steam

Crusaders of Light made a big splash when it debuted on mobile devices last year. Just last week, however, the mobile MMO made the jump to Steam. We chatted with Product Manager Stan Wang about the move and about CoL's future.

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MMORPG: Crusaders of Light started off primarily as a mobile MMORPG. What made you decide to bring it to Steam?

Stan Wang: We launched Crusaders of Light simultaneously on mobile and Facebook Gameroom and saw that players were really utilizing the cross-platform play features between their devices. Building off of that player behavior, we wanted to be able to offer a Steam version to our players when they were at home or using standard keyboard, since many PC players live and breathe Steam.

Launching on Steam also allows us to introduce ourselves to the broader PC-first audience that may be looking for a game that allows cross-platform play, since today’s gamer isn’t stuck in one place, and their game shouldn’t be either. The fact that Crusaders of Light is available on mobile and PC means that players can jump in after dinner to do some questing at home, but can also join their guild in a massive raid if they’re commuting or waiting in line.

A lot of MMO players have grown up on the genre, and many now have jobs and kids and other life obligations that can make it difficult to sit down at their PC and play for long periods at a time. With Crusaders of Light’s cross-platform play feature, our hope is to give players a traditional MMO experience that can work for all players and lifestyles, whether you’re a weekend warrior to hardcore daily player.

MMORPG: How has the gameplay between the two versions been challenging for the communities? On mobile, MMOs tend to "play themselves" where PC players are very different.

SW: Many MMO players that are used to using a large screen, keyboard and mouse really gravitated to the Gameroom version. So we wanted to create an experience that would feel comfortable for them but still ensure that there was consistency of experience between the versions, especially considering both PC and mobile players play on the same servers.

There are obviously some differences in terms of control inputs given that mobile focuses on touch and PC leverages a mouse and keyboard. But outside of that, we’ve been able to provide a consistent experience for all our players so they can still access the same gameplay no matter what.

MMORPG: There's a large update coming to both versions (since they use cross-platform play). Can you share a bit about what's in store?

SW: We launched a new content update called “Battle of Karanvale” on April 19th which features a new city, a new tier of gear, a new PVP game mode and the most difficult team raid so far. We’re really excited about this one, because it introduces fans to the city of Karanvale - which is the first big city in the game. Most of the action in the update takes place in Karanvale, where we introduce a new quest and a new PVP game mode. We also introduce powerful new Mythic Charms. We’ll be hosting numerous events and prizes in-game to celebrate the opening of Karanvale, so be on the lookout for cool new mounts and gear.

MMORPG: The new city that's being added, is it just a "meeting place" or is there a whole story, quests, and so forth to go with it?

SW: Karanvale is the capital and urban heart of the Sardar Highlands area of the game, with lots of opportunities to explore and quest (including a new quest to obtain and repair new Mythic gear that was damaged by frequent use in ancient battles). Like in any city, there’s a lot to do in Karanvale--players can meet the King, explore seedy back alleys and participate in our new PVP mode, Shadowveil Assassination.

MMORPG: Can you tell us a bit about the big PVP changes?

SW: Shadowveil Assassination is a lot of fun. Assassins are disguised as regular people and hiding among the population. It’s up to players to root out assassins while remaining disguised themselves, but if anyone accidentally attacks a normal citizen, they’ll be taken over by Desolationist magic and respawn as an assassin. It’s a gory battle of deception.

MMORPG: What's the story of the new Raid and what kinds of things will players encounter and be rewarded with?

SW: This new Mad Laboratory dungeon raid, and like its name suggests, it’s pretty insane. The premise is that peaceful experiments have gone awry, and it’s up to players to bring down the Lab’s mutants. It’s open to players who’ve achieved Lv. 55 with Lv. 70 talents, so this dungeon is definitely designed to bring on the madness.

William Murphy / Bill is the Managing Editor of MMORPG.com, and lover of all things gaming. He''s been playing and writing about MMOs and geekery since 2002. Be sure to follow him on Twitter for all of his pointless rambling.